


Housewarming

by sinchronicity



Series: turn of the wheel [4]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Anniversary, Established Relationship, F/F, Halloween, Minor Franky/Nico Robin, Moving In Together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:01:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27307414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sinchronicity/pseuds/sinchronicity
Summary: It's not Nami and Vivi's first Halloween together, not by a long shot. It's not even their first Halloweentogether... but it is their first year sharing a home. Their first couple of months sharing a home, actually, so maybe this Autumnal gathering is a little bit special for the both of them. The future, it turns out, is both a glorious and terrifying thing.
Relationships: Nami/Nefertari Vivi
Series: turn of the wheel [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1176035
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	Housewarming

**Author's Note:**

> Hey all, it's been a while! And this marks the fourth installment of this series, which, wow! If you're new here, welcome! And if you've read all the other ones: know that I'd walk into battle for you. o7

“Man,” Nami said, tapping her thigh with her free hand. “It’s a brave new world,” she said.

Vivi glanced down at her from where she was perched upon an ottoman, adjusting a false spiderweb for the umpteenth time. 

“Is that a gag about the seltzer?”

“Babe, it ain’t a gag at all.” Nami watched the way Vivi twitched, ever so slightly, at the petname, and smiled. Still, even now – she could get her to react how she wanted, how she felt. The playfulness between them hadn’t left like she’d been worried it would.

“Pumpkin-spiced hard seltzer,” she said, swilling the liquid. “People will buy anything these days.”

“You bought it…”

“I’m people!”

“You’re not people,” Vivi said, and she stepped off the ottoman and made her way across the chaos of the floor and into Nami’s arms. “You’re special. You’re better.”

“Mwah,” Nami said, holding her seasonal can away from her girlfriend. “And hey, stop fussing with everything. It all looks fine.” 

Vivi sighed as she took a step back, surveying their living room. “It does. I _know_ it does, I just…” 

“Ya want things to go well,” Nami said, and she leaned back into the couch. Yeah, that’s right, world, _their_ couch – it was kind of shitty, but they’d bought it together, so. “I get it.” 

“I guess you do,” Vivi said. “It’s nice having a partner in crime.” 

_Partners._ They’d only had the apartment since early September, the summer consumed by Nami’s house-hunting and Vivi trying to rip off the band-aid of her moving away from home as slowly as possible. And the time since the move had been a spiraling whirlwind of transferring jobs and scrambling for that second months’ rent when not all was quite ready. Of second-hand shops and gifts from Vivi’s family overseas, which meant their interior decoration was delightfully all over the place. It still felt vaguely unreal, and half of Nami’s clothes were still in cheap storage boxes under her department store bed frame. But they’d wanted to do something, give some proof that they had a space for each other and for their relationship, and in this particular friend group, that meant one thing: _A Halloween party._

Not _the_ Strawhat Halloween party. They weren’t _ready_ to compete with Franky or Brook, and honestly, why try when those parties were so damn fun? But the week _before_ Halloween was ripe for the taking, and here they were, the scent of cinnamon in the air. It was Brook’s turn to have a go at the big bash this year, and it was going to be _wild_ – invites were going beyond simply the Straw Hats to friends and acquaintances old and new. Vivi thought it was a good thing, because Brook had too much space up there in that old house that had once been the haven of the Rumbar Pirates and now was home to one lonely man. Nami agreed with that assessment, but also had known these people for a long time and thought that it was very likely to be a shitshow.

But _that_ was next week. First they had to get through their own party.

Nami stood up, setting her seltzer safely out of reach on their table – painfully constructed from IKEA instructions and now covered in a jaunty tablecloth featuring a pattern of black cats and jack o’ lanterns – next to the elaborate light-up candy bowl and currently-empty punch bowl. They’d gone as all-out as they could in their small space – old fabrics draped everywhere, plastic chains, wall-tapestries boasting scenes of haunted houses papering their walls. There were little bats hung in their window, and string lights and flickering false tea candles everywhere. In the middle of the midday preparations, it looked mostly chaotic, remnants of bags and leftover spiderweb everywhere – but tonight, with the overhead lights off and orange and purple lighting everything up? Nami was actually pretty damn sure it was gonna look cool. 

And so were they. The two masters of the house. 

“Let’s get this shit cleaned up,” Nami said, and turned to Vivi, grinning. “We’ve got charcuterie boards to prepare and I’ve got makeup to put on.” 

Vivi smiled back, and Nami watched, pleased, as some of the masked anxiety dropped off her face to be replaced but a simpler and sweeter excitement. 

“Yeah,” she said, and grinned back. “Let’s get this house _really_ haunted.” 

–

“Babe,” Nami says, holding a long curl of blue hair away from her girlfriend’s face, “Ya gotta hold still. No twitching – we’re nearly out of grey.” 

She slid the sponge over the curve of Vivi’s cheekbone one more time. “There. Can’t have you looking too alive.” 

“I’m sure I look suitably deceased,” Vivi said. Her painted-dark lips smiled, revealing a tiny sliver of teeth and tongue. “I don’t know how you do this all the time.” 

“Well, it’s not usually _this_ complex…” Nami never knew how to talk about makeup, about what it meant or didn’t mean to be able to control how she looked, to hide dark circles and scars and blemishes. Vivi never held it over her head, never told her stop, but she never made her feel like she _had_ to wear her painted face, either. She was wearing it less, these days, and that relinquishing of control was proving to be nice, too.

And then there was stuff like this, which was just _fun._

“Okay,” she said, turning to rinse the sponge. “Hold for the setting spay and you’re done.” 

Vivi closed her eyes obligingly, and Nami took a moment to take in the view – dark, full lips, high cheekbones looking a little gaunt with the makeup but still oh-so-handsome, her hair (freshly died for the occasion) cascading over her shoulder in loose waves. Even greyed-out and ghostly she was still Vivi and therefore still gorgeous. 

“Yep,” Nami said, and her voice was maybe even a little shaky, “Lookin’ good.” 

“Thanks,” Vivi said, long lashes fluttering open. “Your turn?” 

“Yeah, shoo.” 

“Can’t I stay and watch?”

Nami smiled a little. “If your idea of a thrilling show is watching me put on falsies.” 

“Well, if it’s you…” 

“Aw, geez, ya sap…”

Vivi didn’t protest, didn’t bother to defend herself; she instead raised a hand to Nami’s forehead and lifted her bangs off her face. 

“Let’s pin these up,” she said, voice soft and sweet as honey, and Nami thought, _Every day, I get every single day with her._

–

The grey fabric draped over Vivi’s shoulders certainly made her seem ghostly, particularly in the dimming light. She looked up from the cutting board, dark eyes under painted lids, and said, “Do you think we’ve got enough cheese?” which sort of ruined the illusion. 

“Yep,” Nami said. She was very busy setting up a projector that would create whirling spirit figures, and didn’t have time for such trivial matters. “And besides, if it isn’t, we’re not the only ones providing food.” 

Vivi poked her head around the corner to peer at her. “I thought Sanji couldn’t make it?” 

Nami shrugged her ghostly shoulders. “He can’t. But, he agreed to pass on a Baratie-made platter of hors d’oeurves, because he simply loves us that much.” 

“When he can’t even eat ‘em with us? That _is_ true love.” 

Nami laughed. “Well, we’ll be seeing every one next week anyway, he can bully Luffy then. In the meantime…he left his costume spot open.” 

The man was a vampire every year, and didn’t like his territory being infringed upon. Nami watched as amused surprise crept onto Vivi’s face.

“So we may be seeing some more vampire action?”

“Yeah, I suspect so.” 

“How exciting!”

“For a given definition of exciting.” Nami swanned her way over to Vivi, and draped herself around her girlfriend’s shoulders. “Now stop fussing and pay attention to _me_.”

“I’m always paying attention to you,” Vivi said, voice light, and she turned in Nami’s arms to kiss her chastely on the mouth.

–

“Happy Halloween!” 

It was Chopper. His hair uncharactistically straightened and parted, in an outfit that was nearing twenty years out of date. He had a wooden stake in one hand, but Nami wouldn’t have needed that to get it. She had been sixteen once, too.

“The Slayer has arrived,” she said, grinning. “Heya, Buffy.” 

Chopper smiled at her. Not _up_ at her, though. Those growth spurts that puberty was known for had finally caught up with him, and he stood about her height these days. It was weird, but it was less discomfiting than she would’ve expected.

 _Well, would you look at that,_ she thought to herself. _Guess I’m finally fucking ready to grow up._ It helped that the future was a little less frightening when you were living it with a real catch of a woman. 

“Is that food?” Vivi shoved her way into frame, looking hopeful. (The costumed affect was that she looked like she was hoping to start haunting you, but that was fine). She’d started up their playlist of ghostly moans, which did little to spoil the image.

“Yeah, yeah, we got food, since our presence apparently is not enough!” Franky and Robin emerged behind their teenaged vamp-killer, Robin holding several large platters in her hand.

Nami took in their costumes. 

“Oh, haha.” 

“Nothing like a bit of visual irony,” Franky said. He was painted purple, be-fanged, and sporting a cape. 

“Von Count,” Nami said, dryly. 

“Please don’t drop any rice,” he grinned back. “You know I’m about one third plastic and aluminum, these knees can’t take it. Like, the organic one can’t keep up.” 

“Funny,” Nami said, but Vivi was giggling beside her, so, you know, it came out a little less deadpan than maybe she originally intended.

“And of course…” Franky started, and Robin neatly picked up her cue.

“I am the vampire Lestat!” 

And she was, too; her eyes blazing bright over those contoured cheekbones – not that she really needed help in that department – her hair in waves contained by a low ponytail tied up a dramatic velvet bow. The elegant clothing, the low-cut v-neck – Yeesh, Nami was taken but she wasn’t blind – 

“You look better than Tom Cruise,” she said, as Vivi exclaimed, “I love it!” 

“Thank you both,” Robin said. “Now, please may we enter your lovely haunted home?” 

“Right, ya need your permission – wish I could get Luffy in on that sort of deal –”

“What Nami means, of course, is ‘come on in’!’”

That _was_ what she meant. Vivi was always better at saying it. The two of them stepped out of the way to let the slayer and his would-be victims in, and Nami took the chance to take one last look around the place. Some of the decor wouldn’t really work until the sun was fully down, but it looked pretty damn good. From Vivi’s speakers, a woman wailed, far-off and genuinely a little eerie. Robin smiled, arch and almost cruel on her affected vampiric face, and set the foodstuffs on the table with its false candles flickering. 

“We’ve got the goods from everyone’s favorite Baratie line cook, and also some of our own,” Franky explained, flipping his cape over one shoulder as it threatened to get in the way. “I see you’ve got some fancy little cheese boards to add to the collection so I think we’re good there.”

“And of course,” Robin added, “Brook will be arriving with various drink options.”

“I can’t wait to get plastered drinking whatever the hell his magic potion is this year,” Nami said, leaning over to fidget with the various plates until they were arranged to her liking. Her nervous movements were stilled by the soft – almost ghostly – touch of Vivi’s hands on her hips.

“Oh,” her girlfriend said, in a false, simpering voice, “Please don’t get blackout at our first Halloween party –”

“Okay, okay –” Nami laughed as Vivi batted her long lashes.

“–and on our anniversary, too –” 

“Enough of that,” Nami said, and once upon a time she would’ve been embarrassed by how soft her tone got. She pulled Vivi close and kissed her gently, carefully, so as not to disturb their makeup. 

“How sweet,” Robin said, and when Nami turned she was smiling gently, without an ounce of teasing in the look.

 _Yeah,_ Nami thought. As sweet as candied apples, and less sticky. She didn’t even try to fight Vivi on the anniversary thing anymore – it was true, this _was_ always going to be their night, in her mind – the night they first kissed, years previously, and after it Nami’s entire life had changed. Cheesy? Sure. Hell yeah she was cheesy. But it was true. 

“Isn’t she just?” Vivi said, and her voice had that pleased tone she got when someone was talking nice about Nami. Like – like she was proud to be her girlfriend. Nami held onto Vivi’s hands for a long, dragging moment, before she spotted Chopper starting to explore and remembered to play hostess. 

“Our humble abode,” she said. “Looks pretty damn good, yeah?” 

“I love it,” Chopper said, earnestly (gods she was glad he’d not yet lost that sincerity). “It’s creepy!”

“And it’ll only become _more_ ominous as the sun sinks lower!” Vivi announced, cheerily enough. “I wanted to ask, though – Franky, would you mind taking a look at our animatronic? Her movements are kind of stiff.”

“I thought you’d _never_ ask,” Franky said, gushingly, and he and Chopper traipsed over to the hanging banshee that had been their big Hallow’s Eve splurge – she had glowing red eyes and grabbed at you with plastic arms if you got too close and activated her sensor. 

“What’s her name?” Franky asked, because of who he was as a person. Because of who Vivi was as a person, she answered chirpily, “Margaret!” 

In front of Nami, and standing tall and imposingly beautiful in their dim lighting, Robin smiled, and said, “Have you got any hard liquor?” 

–

Nami did, in fact, have a fairly well-stocked liquor cabinet in the kitchen, although she drank rather less often than she once had, these days. She knew that Robin, too, rarely branched beyond a glass of red wine, so it was kind of fun to think that the other woman had chosen _their_ party to let her hair down. She had looked at the cupboard contents, looked at Nami, and calmly asked, “Do you have a lemon?”

Nami did have a lemon (several, in fact) and so they were doing tequila shots. 

“Blech,” Nami said, upon swallowing. “That shit burns.” The taste of the salt lingered on her tongue.

“It is rather unpleasant,” Robin said, serenely. “Makes one feel young, though.” 

They were seated at the dining table, watching Franky tinkering away to a deeply engaged audience of two. Vivi had produced a hair clip from some secret pocket, and her messy hair had been temporarily contained. Riveting stuff. 

“This _is_ a very nice place for you both,” Robin said. “I’m impressed you managed to find something like it a reasonable distance from your new workplace.” 

It had been pretty hard; Nami was still surprised, too. And the rent was on the higher end of their budget, which was stressful when one half of the couple came from money and the other grew up – as the technical types called it – dirt-fucking-poor. But, you know, still a pretty good deal. 

“You’ll have to come see it when it isn’t, like, haunted,” Nami said. 

“Not going to keep the decor up year-round?” Robin was joking. Probably. 

“Would rather not jump-scare myself every time I gotta pee in the middle in the night, thanks.” 

“Hm,” Robin said. “And it _is_ scary.” 

“I mean, it’s all, like, plastic, but –”

Robin laughed. “No. I mean, this. The future. You were frightened of it, weren’t you?” 

Nami shifted. “Well, yeah. But I was just being a dumb kid.” 

“No, I don’t think you were. The future is terrifying.” 

“That’s...not what I would have expected to hear, from you.”

Robin smiled that dangerous smile of hers. “Why? Because I’m satisfied with my life?”

The false flames painted shadows across her handsome face. Nami shifted, uneasy. “Well...aren’t you?” 

The smile became kinder. “I am. In fact, I am happier now than I ever believed possible.” 

“Oh.” Nami knew something about that sort of hopelessness.

“Yes,” Robin continued, watching her closely. “You and I both know how it is. Franky and Vivi too, I think, and even Chopper – it’s one of those things that ties all of us together.”

“Nothing like childhood trauma to get the friendship group _real_ tight.”

“Indeed.”

Behind them, ghostly howling reigned. Nami swallowed. She did feel – odd, sometimes, like she really _was_ a ghost, or that her former life was a ghost, or something. Like seeing Chopper...Yeah, she remembered being sixteen all right. Remembered being blazingly, horrendously angry, the sort of anger that came from pain and that made you want to set everything – including yourself – on fire. 

“How do I stop being her?” She said, and her voice shook, she heard it shaking, and resented it. “That...scared little girl?” 

Robin reached forward and set her hand on the table, palm facing up.

“You don’t,” she said. “And you don’t want to, not really. She’s you.”

“She’s the worst part of me,” Nami admitted, but Robin’s smile did not falter.

“No, she isn’t. She’s just scared.”

Nami was quiet for a long moment. Then she reached forward and set her hand on top of Robin’s. 

“Being scared isn’t very fun.”

“I know it isn’t,” Robin said. “But you can live with it. Sometimes you forget it. But even when you are scared, you have to let yourself live, right now. The future is always going to be a mystery.” Something glinted in her eyes, and Nami knew what she was going to say something morbid – “An asteroid could fall from the sky and take us out right now. The ceiling could collapse. A horrible, freak accident –” 

“Those are unreasonable fears, though.”

Robin shrugged. “Of course. Many fears are. But we can only control so much. The trick is being careful but not being so careful that you fail to luxuriate in the good things in your life.”

“Yeah, not sure I know how to do that,” Nami said, and she was remembering every harassed, hurried moment of the last few months, the weight of all that life-changing going on at once.

Robin cocked her head to one side. “Well,” she said, “you’re young yet. You’ll learn.”

Nami wanted to believe her. With Robin’s hand – sturdier, tougher, more rugged than you would guess by just looking – underneath her fingers, she found that she actually sort of _did_.

–

“Babe,” Vivi said, catching Nami’s wrist in the hallway. “Did you just have a Future Talk with Robin over tequila?” 

They had turned on the projector with nightfall, so spinning ghosts swirled around them in the otherwise dark hallway. Brook would be arriving any moment, and Usopp was corralling the rest of them, and Nami first _weird_. Discomfited, almost floating. Certainly not festive. 

“I mean,” she said. “It was just one shot. But, yeah. I guess we did.”

Vivi’s eyes sought her out. “Are you okay?”

“Fine and dandy.” She didn’t sound it, though, she could hear that much in her own voice. 

“Come,” Vivi said, soft but commanding, and pulled her into their bedroom.

Inside, the ghostly music was muffled by the walls. Their room was a little messy; strewn with various Halloween decorations that they’d had out but squirreled away when they realized they didn’t quite fit the theme. There was an inflatable jack-o-lantern leaning precariously against a cartoony Frankenstein’s monster, that sort of thing. Atop their bookshelf were several Halloween-themed greeting cards – Brook sent one, because he was dramatic like that – but also one from her sister. It was handmade, and Nojiko was not an artist – the gourds underneath the carefully lettered HAVE A BLESSED SAMHAIN were a little wonky looking. 

Nami crossed the room and picked up the card. There had been a note, a long one, tucked into the envelope with it. That was tucked into Nami’s mirror, now. She ran a finger over the painted pile of gourds. Right, this was who she _was_ – Noijko’s sister. Bellemere’s daughter. Vivi’s...girlfriend, partner, best friend. Whatever they were, whatever they were becoming. All at once, all of the time. It rattled around her head.

“What’s going on in there?” Vivi said. Her hair had escaped its pins and swirled around her shoulders in half-tangled curls. She looked terrifying, and beautiful; terrifyingly beautiful.

“I’m scared,” Nami said. She swallowed, and set the card back down. “I…ugh. I don’t know. Living like this scares me a little. I wish it didn’t.”

Something shuttered in Vivi’s face, and Nami reached for her, heart pounding.

“I don’t mean – shit, Vivi, I don’t mean I regret it. I don’t regret a thing. I just – I’m scared. But that’s okay. I’m dealing with it.” 

Vivi’s face didn’t change. “But I don’t want you to be scared of us.” 

“I can’t help it,” Nami said. “That’s the truth. But. I wanted to tell you so that you know that I’m not scared of _you._ ” 

“And you’re not?”

“I’m not.” Nami crossed the distance between them, and let herself fall into Vivi’s arms the way they’d done so many times before. She kissed her neck; pressed gentle hands to her hips, her sides, her breasts.

“If you want,” Vivi said, “We can send everyone away. Cancel the party. Do it another night, or not at all – everyone would understand.” 

“Of course they would,” Nami said, because they had the best friends in the world. But, you know – they had the _best friends in the world._ “But I’d really prefer not to, if that’s alright by you.” 

Vivi held her by the shoulders, at arm’s length so that she could get a good look at her face.

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.” Nami said, because she was. 

“I just want to be happy. With you. For us both to be happy, that’s all I want.”

“I know, baby,” Nami said, and she lifted Vivi’s hands gently off of her shoulders. “I want that too. We’re gonna get there. Even if it’s hard. I won’t –” in the past she would’ve run away from this, from this pain, from the effort of it. 

“I’ll try not to be too scared of our happiness,” she said, eventually. “And I guess I’ll try not to expect everything to be perfect right away.” 

“We’ve got time,” Vivi said, and she kissed Nami – not a careful kiss, not a ‘my girlfriend spent half an hour doing my makeup’ kiss – a proper one.

“Bleh,” Nami said. “You taste like face paint.”

“Well, sweetheart, you taste like tequila,” Vivi said, and finally she broke and grinned. “You’re sure you’re alright?”

“I’m sure I’m ready to see our friends,” Nami said, entirely truthfully, and it was like the universe heard her, because there was _rat-tat-tat!_ against their front door that surely signaled Brook’s arrival. 

–

By the time Usopp managed to lead his wayward companions into the correct apartment building – and _that_ Zoro story was definitely getting pried out of him at a later date – Nami was pleasantly buzzed. By the way that Lestat was feeling up the muppet, she thought Robin probably was too.

There was an excitement in the air that went beyond alcohol though, and Nami was pleased and relieved by this – because it was the same feeling that was always present at Brook’s parties, or Franky’s, and now they’d somehow managed to conjure it up in their own little apartment. They they all were: Franky-and-Robin testing their animatronic on Chopper; Vivi talking about some old movies Nami had never heard of with Brook, who had apparently seen all of them, and it just felt...right. 

Luffy came in like a wrecking ball, and, well – right or wrong, that was certainly _typical._

The devil look he had going on was good. Curling, lovingly crafted horns appeared to sprout from Luffy’s forehead, and his skin was red-painted in crucial spots. He had spidery little wings and a sinister tail and a pitchfork shoved into his belt loop and he looked half-ridiculous and half nearly-scary. It was well-made, lovingly made – Usopp’s handiwork, of course, and Usopp was beside him, looking vaguely embarrassed in an angel’s getup. 

“Hey,” Nami said, and smiled, too emotionally exhausted to tease and unwilling to force it. “The dynamic duo.”

“Usopp!” Vivi sounded delighted. “Luffy...you guys look so good! Did you make all that, Usopp?” 

Usopp scratched at his chin shyly, his white, faux-fur lined cape rustling around his shoulders. “Yeah, yeah...uh. Just thought it would be funny, right?” 

Funny, sure. Sweet, too, though.

“It’s great,” Vivi said, and she and Nami locked eyes for just a second, a smile passing between them. 

“Can you stop blocking the doorway? I want a drink,” an annoyed voice growled from the hallway, and a titter of laughter went through the lot of them as Zoro slouched his way in, Usopp pulling Luffy away, Luffy laughing wide and showing off fangs. 

Zoro was still flushed and a little sweaty in his tank-top, sweats, and sneakers – he’d come straight from the dojo, though his nod to the reason for the season was his tank, which was emblazoned with the somewhat nonsensical slogan TRICK OR BEER?

“I talked him into that,” Usopp murmured into Nami’s ear as he snuck over to the drinks table, now full with Brook’s various concoctions. “Also, holy shit you guys, this place looks great!”

And it fucking did, too. Nami poured herself a celebratory goblet of the 21+ potion, and winked at Vivi, who spread her arms and swept into a low, dramatic bow. 

“Welcome to our haunted home,” Vivi said, warbling her voice a little. As if on cue, Luffy stepped too close to their banshee and she shrieked, lunging at him. Usopp screamed a little and even Zoro twitched – but Luffy laughed, delighted. 

“Oh, I like this,” he said, and really that was all they needed – that same familiar warm feeling swept over Nami again, and she had to swallow around the lump in her throat. 

And so the night began in its fullness – a little gathering, missing some of their friends – some of their _family,_ and lacking the pressures of Samhain but still at least a little bit magical. Their voices were low; their laughter loud; they ate and drank and were merry. Brook changed up the music, picking through Vivi’s vinyl collection, and Chopper begged them all into watching an episode of _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_ with him, and it made Nami really nostalgic and Vivi saw her getting emotional and practically sat in her lap, which was ridiculous because Vivi was the taller one, and Robin kept putting her hand on Franky’s thigh in the middle of their goddamned living room, and Nami’s phone kept chirping with text notifications from Nojiko, and –

“Nami,” Vivi whispered into her ear, drawing out the second syllable of her name. “My little ghost, you’re still thinking too much…”

“I’m thinking just the right amount,” Nami said, and lifted Vivi’s chin to kiss her. “I’m happy, baby, not stressed.” 

“Are you sure?”

Ah, the gentle repetition of those who loved you and were unconvinced by your answers. Nami laughed – loudly enough that Chopper glanced up at them both until she winked at him and he turned back to his show.

“Is anyone ever sure?”

“Yes,” Vivi said, without hesitation. “I am. I’m absolutely sure that I’m happy that we did this. I’m absolutely sure that I’m happy I did it with you.” 

“Oh, well, in that case,” Nami said, and she thought – I’m gonna stay here forever, with you. When we die – which better be about a hundred goddamn years from now – we’ll fucking _haunt_ it. 

Then it was Vivi’s turn to lean in and kiss her. Their makeup was truly getting thoroughly ruined, but then – if it wasn’t, you weren’t having a good enough time. 

“Yeah,” Nami said, brushing back a lock of hair from Vivi’s eyes. “Yeah, I’m happy. Right now, and right here.” 

And she was. A good record on the player, a good programme on the television, the best friends a person could have on her couch – and her gal in her arms. _Ain’t nowhere better in the world,_ Nami thought, and smiled. She closed her eyes, and let herself feel it. Not yet Samhaim, but blessed all the same. _So this is the future, huh?_

**Author's Note:**

> _[It's a new day for those good old dreams / one by one it seems they're comin' true...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksM5HcsVvYw) _
> 
> Thanks for reading, y'all. I wanted to end this on a somewhat open note...I mean who knows where we'll all be next year, right? If the mood of this differs from the previous installments, well, it's 'cause 2020 is one helluva year. I hope you had the best Halloween possible giving the circumstances! <3 


End file.
